Guest post by InfoWorld’s Neil McAllister looks ahead at the impending netbook revolution, one sure to be fueled by the introduction of machines based on ARM processors. As McAllister sees it, the move to ARM-based netbooks will have implications beyond cost and performance; it will also mean a new OS, opening the door for Linux, most notably Xandros and Ubuntu Netbook Remix. The emergence of ARM-based netbooks running Linux will represent a subtle shift in messaging on the part of netbook vendors. “Expect to see increased emphasis on netbooks as secondary machines or ‘companion devices,’ designed to be paired with a more traditional, full-featured notebook or PC, rather than standing on their own.”
What I want in a netbook is a full desktop replacement. What I’m interested in is the form factor, I don’t want a low powered device crippled by Microsoft’s restrictions on exactly what a netbook can and can’t be. If I can replace my desktop for all purposes but gaming, then I’ll be happy, and that’s what I’m expecting from an ARM based netbook.
I was talking to someone a couple of days ago who was happy with Linux on her netbook, but for one irritating issue: it didn’t support the Virgin Mobile 3G dongle she’d bought. I don’t know if they’re in other countries, our ISPs like to cripple the user as much as possible in Australia, but we can buy prepaid 3G internet access plans that come with a USB dongle for laptops and netbooks here. Obviously the prepaid plans are even more extortionate than the post-paid ones (and that’s saying a lot).
If we want ARM netbooks to be Linux’s foot in the mainstream door, I think these USB dongles should be the top priority for anyone making a netbook Linux distro; to netbook manufacturers, I say “include an internal 3G modem and a simple, easy to use configuration app”. Actually, if ARM netbooks become popular enough, ISPs might even begin providing Linux drivers for their dongles.
On a side note: There’s a reason these dongles are phallic, and I’m sure you can finish the visual metaphor yourself.
I more or less agree. Certainly, I expect a netbook to have the functionality of any laptop or desktop – even if it’s a little slower and confined, I should still be able to use it the same way I do my desktop machine.
Can an ARM-based machine deliver that? I don’t see how, at the moment – it can run Linux, sure, but it’s not a fully supported platform for any major desktop distro, not Ubuntu, not Fedora, etc. It’s not going to happen without those distros taking ARM a lot more seriously than they do now…
You do know that Ubuntu has an ARM port that is being maintained with the idea that it will run on these ARM-based netbooks, right? Canonical would like very much to be the prime os provider for these netbooks.
Yes, there are ARM ports, but at the present time, none of them have the same kind of official support. Until you can go to Ubuntu’s install guide and see ARM as a supported platform (joining x86, x86-64, and PPC among others), it’s rather lacking in credibility.
Debian supports ARM.
http://www.debian.org/ports/arm/
Ubuntu is really just a 6-monthly snapshot of Debian.
Kind off topic, but the prepaid mobile broadband has come to New Zealand and to be fair, they aren’t designed to replace fixed line internet; they’re an on the go device where a person can sit on a train, read the news as they are going to work – I do the same thing when I take the train into Wellington which is around a 40 minute trip from where I live. At the most one is probably using 10 of internet given that it will mainly be text based website viewing (with some pictures).
I’m in the same boat as your friend though; try getting netbook which supports these new 3G modems; I have a soap on a rope (Huawei E220) and it is anyone’s guess as to how reliable it is using Linux or any alternative operating system. So there is alot that needs to be done with 90% of the issues actually sitting square on the shoulders of the netbook vendors whose job is to integrate the software and hardware together in a coherent and useful package for the end user.
I don’t really want to replace my desktop, and I feel more comfortable when doing complicated stuff with full keyboard, mouse & monitor. I feel that the form factor (keyboard & screen size, touchpad) limits the netbooks more than cpu, ram or OS.
I think all we need is a non-braindead OEM that actually picks up the latest Ubuntu and tests the hardware with it – and provides fixes for stuff that doesn’t work.
If I were using a netbook at a desktop, I’d probably want to dock it and use a full sized keyboard monitor and mouse. I just like the idea of one device to rule them all more than two separate computers, because one would inevitably get at least triple the use of the other.
What I want in a netbook is a full desktop replacement.
It is silly to expect netbooks to be a “full desktop replacement”.
Netbook is not designed for it.
“Desktop replacement” typically is a 17″ power hungry laptop.
Roflmao, after their Eee fiasco?
I don’t think so, somehow. Better for everyone if a well-known and well-supported os is provided.
Internal 3g/HSDPA modem is a must for any ARM netbook,
and ofcourse with mature Linux drivers.
And to some of the other comments here, my main use of a netbook would be a mobile information comm. terminal, not as a desktop replacement device.
Meaning taking notes, chat, videotelephony, sms, irc, information from Wikipedia etc.
I like the idea of a desktop replacement. Given that my most latest and greatest desktop system consists of a 1.8GHz P4 with 1GB RAM and a 160 GB HDD, that shouldn’t be too difficult 🙂